Yesterday, we celebrated our Senior School Easter Service conducted in the School Hall by The Reverend Dr Peter French and today, the Junior School Easter Service was conducted by The Reverend Dr Keiron Jones at St John’s Anglican Church in Toorak.

At the Senior School Service, I spoke about the significance of Easter and the opportunity for families to come together to celebrate this important time. Easter celebrates new life – as symbolised by the Easter egg, a time for freshness, growth and thanksgiving.

Easter is a time to reflect upon all for which we can be grateful and all that we can do in joyous service of others – friends, families and our community. It is a time to reflect on our values and it is a timely reminder to live our lives by showing empathy and care for others.

Easter is also a time to reflect on the true nature of giving – and I believe ‘true giving’ comes from the same place as your deepest happiness. They are curiously intertwined.

There is something genuinely satisfying in witnessing children finding an Easter egg – unwrapping this gift – and responding with happiness and seeing the warmth of their smile.

Whilst at Easter, we give eggs to our loved ones, a very special form of giving also takes place with small, personal acts of kindness. Very often is it not eggs, money or belongings people need, it is – a kind word, a compliment, a smile. So, Easter really is a magical celebration of how new things can come from places you don’t expect.

The things people see as part of the Easter celebration help us remember that we can always start over, no matter how hard things might seem, and that spreading happiness makes the world a more cheerful place.

At the Easter Service, I encouraged the girls to be grateful, to be happy, appreciate their many blessings and to nurture the art of giving to others.

Staff Farewells

At the close of Term 1, we say farewell to Ms Cindy Tian from the Languages Faculty and Ms Sophie Hardwick from the Humanities Faculty. We thank them for their outstanding work and dedication in supporting our students during their time at St Catherine’s School.

Mrs Sophie Gardiner from the Advancement Office also leaves us after four and half years working in the area of fundraising. Sophie has been a highly valued member of the team and we wish her well for her future endeavours.

We also wish Miss Skye Stansfield, Head of Year 7 who will commence Maternity Leave from Term 2. We wish her well and look forward to hearing her exciting news about her newborn baby in the coming weeks.

With our final day of term, I wish all families a safe, relaxing and enjoyable holiday.

I look forward to seeing you in Term 2.